Archives on pontificate of Pius XI to open in September

Pope Benedict has decreed that from September 18 (when the Vatican Secret Archives and other archives of the Holy See resume activities after the summer vacation) all documents relative to the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (February 6, 1922 - February 10, 1939) be made available to researchers. According to a communique made public today, signed by Frs Marcel Chappin SJ and Sergio Pagano B., respectively keeper of the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State and prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, "this opening, which had already been desired by John Paul II, ... makes available to historical research, within the limits of the regulations, all documentary sources up to February 1939 conserved in the various series of archives of the Holy See, and principally in the Vatican Secret Archives and in the Archives of the Second Section of the Secretariat of State (formerly the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs)." Source: VIS